


The Dead Walk Among Us

by Rochnariel



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Spoilers for Campaign 2 up to Episode 27, spoilers for campaign 1
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2019-12-30 17:43:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18320156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rochnariel/pseuds/Rochnariel
Summary: Vax'ildan is sent to collect Mollymauk. It doesn't exactly go as planned.Much to Vax's eventual delight.





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This entire idea was sparked by a single art piece on Twitter, much to my chagrin. This will most likely continue as snippets in the un-life of Vax'ildan and Mollymauk as they follow the Mighty Nein.
> 
> I make no promises as to how often that this will actually update seeing as I have zero free time right now. Those following Repeat After Me probably know this. But this wouldn't leave my brain alone, so I figured I would post the beginning for you all with the warning that it may not update quickly at all.
> 
> Eventual Vax'ildan/Mollymauk and Caduceus/Caleb is the plan right now. I'll update pairing tags as it becomes relevant.
> 
> Also, fair warning, I am pretty new to D&D and Critical Role. I am caught up on campaign 2, but I'm currently in the middle of the Briarwood arc for campaign 1. So I probably have some things wrong and I may update the beginning as I learn more and get further in.

Molly hits the ground, the last of his consciousness fading as he finishes his blood maledict. The world goes dark to the sound of Beau's screams, and Molly never expects to see light again.

\--

Vax'ildan watches the battle play out from his perch on the hill. He's hidden in the shadows with the hood of his cloak pulled up. He doesn't need to anymore, but it's a lifetime habit to break. And he has no interest in even trying.

He sees his next assignment fall beneath a giant glaive and sighs. He's been watching his mark for the past few days, bored with nothing else calling on his time at the moment, and wishes that he was able to step in. This group calls to him in a way he thought he left completely behind years ago when the Raven Queen finally called him away. 

But there is nothing that he can do except collect his charge and guide him to his place in the afterlife. It’s the only thing that he can ever do anymore.

Vax steps forward as the final blow is struck, doing his best to ignore the screams and pleading that starts up in the middle of the battle. He knew this wasn’t going to end well for the Mighty Nein from the start, too many years of reading battle situations before and after his death. 

He sees the spirit form of the tiefling float up over the body.

He stalks forward unseen, grabbing the shoulder of the tiefling and dragging him off and away. It goes easier if he can get his charges away before the dramatics. People don't need to see their loved ones saying goodbye to their dead body and putting it in the ground. He’s learned that the hard way.

He only managed to drag him about hundred feet beyond the cart before the tiefling rears back and starts fighting his hold. Damn it. He usually gets a little farther before they start fighting, if they ever do.

“Who the fuck are you?” The tiefling stops their progress with greater strength than Vax was expecting. “And where are you taking me?”

Vax readjusts his grip, physically turning the tiefling's back to battle scene still taking place. The tiefling fights his grip but Vax holds firm this time, expecting it.

“You don't need to see that, friend.” Vax does his best to make his voice as reassuring as possible.

“I don't need to see it. I need to help them.” The tiefling reaches back to grab one of his blades. 

Vax catches his arm. “There's nothing you can do to help. Not anymore.” Vax sees the moment that realization of his death dawns on the tiefling.

His head drops, his shoulders sag, and he stops fighting. “Who are you?” The question this time sounds resigned.

“A humble servant of the Raven Queen,” Vax answers.

The tiefling snorts, more life coming back into his voice. “Somehow I doubt that. Where are you taking me?”

A loud cry from the battle site startles both of them. 

The tiefling swallows hard. “Do we have to go now? I'd like to…” the tiefling turns his head. “I'd like to see this through.”

“Most people don't like seeing this part,” Vax says, dropping his grip. There’s nothing that says he has to take his charges off right away. They can stay for a bit. And he senses that short of throwing the tiefling over his shoulder, he’s not going to get them away before this is over.

“I'm not most people.” The tiefling turns around and starts walking back towards the battle.

“Fine,” Vax mutters under his breath. He can see the exact moment that the tears in his friends’ eyes becomes too much for the tiefling. His step falters and he sits heavily on the ground.

Vax rolls his eyes and steps up to sit next to his charge. They're about twenty-five feet from the battle scene at this point. The carts are gone and disappearing in the distance to the north.

“You never really answered me,” the tiefling says in a broken voice.

Vax glances over and sees tears falling openly down the lavender face. “Vax'ildan,” Vax answers while he reaches out and places a hand on the tiefling's shoulder. “I really do work for the Raven Queen.”

“But I doubt you've been humble a day in your life.” The tiefling shakes his head. “Or death, I suppose. I doubt you get this job while you're still alive.”

Vax laughs. “That, my friend, is a story for another time.”

The tiefling turns his face away as the woman in blue pulls a stack of cards out the body’s jacket.

Vax squeezes the tiefling’s shoulder. He watches as a necklace is removed from the body and tossed to the filthy looking wizard. Not that any of them are looking particularly clean and shiny right now.

The tiefling takes a deep breath and shrugs off Vax’s hand. His head hangs for a few moments before he snorts a laugh at the woman in blue calling him a ‘narcissistic, arrogant bastard’.

“Tell me about your friends,” Vax says. 

“What are we going to do first? The man crawled out of a grave once, if he’s to be believed.” The wizard’s statement is slightly shocking. But it would explain why Vax was given so many names for this mark.

“Or yourself,” Vax adds, curious despite himself.

The tiefling remains silent beside him as his friends discuss trying to find a high-level cleric and loot his body for the money to pay for it.

“Seriously,” Vax breaks the silence, trying to distract his charge. “At least tell me what name to call you. You have a surprising amount to choose from.”

The little goblin girl shakes her head in the distance. “Molly said not to steal from happy people.”

The monk’s head snaps up, glaring through tears at the goblin. “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

“Nope. I think you should take everything you can, but I can’t steal from this one.” The goblin steps back and away, scrambling over to the wizard and up onto his back.

The tiefling swipes away some tears. “Is there any way for me to grab something from my body?”

“Probably not,” Vax answers. “Besides, you should have everything on you that you died with.”

“It’s not for me.” Vax follows the tiefling’s gaze over to the goblin that is still clinging to the wizard’s back even as he uses magic to dig a grave.

Vax stands. “What do you want her to have?”

The tiefling looks at him suspiciously for several moments before answering. “There’s a ruby ring on my left hand, a bracelet on the right with moons and stars.” There’s a pause. “And mixed in one of the pockets should be a set of marked playing cards. They’re opposite of where Beau pulled the tarot cards from.”

“Okay.” Vax turns away.

“Vax’ildan,” the tiefling starts and then pauses again. Vax holds his position and waits. “If you can give the swords a nudge for me. They shouldn’t bury them with me. They’re useful.” The voice fades to almost a whisper as Vax walks off. “And I don’t want the body to have them. Just in case.”

Vax frowns at the statement, certain that his new charge has more secrets than most that he picks up.

Vax sneaks over to the body. Even with everyone being distracted, this would have been a great test of his skills in life. In death, it is child’s play. He waits for a moment until no one is watching before lifting the jacket to pull out the cards. Otherwise, the bracelet and ring are off in seconds. He waits until the goblin has scrambled off the wizard’s back and turned away from the note the wizard is writing and back towards the body to nudge the swords, making them catch bits of the weak sunlight getting through the snow clouds.

He holds absolutely still as she stares directly at him for a long minute.

“Are we leaving his swords? There’s one that can teleport,” the goblin asks, still staring at Vax.

The monk has returned with an oversized, truly gaudy tapestry and the wizard is apparently done with his note. Vax stifles a gasp as the wizard steps directly through him. It doesn’t hurt, but it does feel weird. On both sides. 

He feels more than sees the wizard shiver at the icy cold that he knows his presence leaves. The wizard shakes it off and ducks down to leave the note tucked in the tiefling’s clothes and start wrestling the brilliant colored jacket off the dead body. The goblin breaks her stare at that moment to go help her friend remove the jacket.

Vax takes his break and stalks back to his charge, trinkets still clutched forgotten in his grasp.

“Could Nott see you?” the tiefling asks as Vax drops back to the ground next to him.

“Yes and no,” Vax replies, dropping his plundered goods between them.

“Sure, that’s an answer.” Emotion has drained from the tiefling’s voice again as they watch his friends struggle to wrap his body in the giant tapestry. “It really was a ridiculous purchase.” The tiefling agrees with the friends that can’t hear him.

“Tell me your name, and I’ll tell you what Nott could see,” Vax bargains.

“You don’t get a name when you’re sent to drag people off?” The tiefling reaches out to grab the trinkets and scowls further when his hand slides right through them.

Vax grabs the trinkets, tucking them into one of the pouches hanging on his belt. “For you, I got many. I didn’t want to assume which one you wanted to use in the afterlife.”

The tiefling keeps his scowl on the trinkets disappearing into Vax’s pouch as a dull thud sounds from the group gathered before them. “Mollymauk Tealeaf.”

“Nice to meet you, Mollymauk.”

Mollymauk snorts. 

Vax watches the dirt fill the grave for a moment before continuing. “Some people can catch the movement of those like me. If we are still… well, there are few who can see the dead then. But when we move, it lessens the divide. If someone is watching closely then, they can see. Well, sometimes. It’s complicated.”

Tears gather at the corner of Mollymauk’s eyes again as his friends’ toast his life.

“Long may he reign,” echoes over them.

Vax reaches back out, clasping Mollymauk’s shoulder in support. This is exactly why people don’t need to see this shit. This is why he tries to get people out of here before this happens.

The wizard finishes his drink. “Shine bright, circus man.”

Nott recaps her flask sticking it back in her belt. “I think you’re supposed to say things about how good they were and how many people loved them, and what a wonderful life they had, but I don’t think any of those things are true, or at least we don’t– I don’t think he even knew.”

“Is that true?” Vax asks.

Mollymauk shakes his head but doesn’t answer him, watching the wizard set a grave maker in place.

Another squabble breaks out amongst the group in front of them, ending with the wizard walking away.

“C’mon, Mollymauk,” Vax says as he stands.

Mollymauk doesn’t move.

Vax reaches a hand out. “Mollymauk. We need to go.”

“No,” Mollymauk responds, ignoring the hand.

“Mollymauk,” Vax growls. “We stayed. You saw. Now, I need to take you to the Raven Queen’s gates.”

“And then what?” Mollymauk stares off in the direction that his friends walked off in, tears still streaming down his face.

“I don’t know,” Vax answers, still holding his hand out. “It depends on your god, I think. The Raven Queen is only the gatekeeper for those such as you.”

“What about the things you took from my—” Mollymauk angrily swipes away his tears again. “You took from my body? I want…I want to deliver them first. That is why you grabbed them for me, right?”

Vax drops his hand and glances skyward for a moment. “Fine. To the goblin girl, right?”

“One of them is,” Mollymauk answers, standing up. “The other two are for the friends we are looking for.”

“That was not the agreement, Mollymauk,” Vax growls. This is becoming far more complicated than he ever expected when he got assigned this tiefling. Even after following him for the past few days. He really should have known better.

“Is it going to hurt anything to follow this through to let me deliver these things and see my friends saved? Are we really on a deadline here? We’re dead. Time doesn’t matter, right?”

Vax sighs. “It does, but fine. Let’s go.” Vax stalks off in the direction the group went, trusting Mollymauk to follow behind him. This is what he wanted anyway.

And, Vax has to be honest with himself, he is kind of curious as to how this is all going to play out anyway.


	2. Frozen

“So where are we heading?” Vax asks as they trudge along about five hundred feet behind the Mighty Nein. The group has been on constant watch since they left the clearing that the battle took place in. They would probably be safe walking closer, but he doesn’t want to push it with how suspiciously they are all watching their surroundings. And sometimes horses are more perceptive than humans to these things. 

It means that the only source of information that he has at the moment is the silent tiefling walking beside him. Which means that he is essentially walking blind at this point.

It also doesn’t give him a lot of insight into Mollymauk’s mental state at the moment. And Vax is starting to think he needs to be worried about that as well.

In the days that he watched his mark before his death, Mollymauk was never this silent for this long. He was bright and loud and full of life. Walking beside him, right now, is a shell of that man.

Dying puts a lot of strain on a person. As Vax knows well. But the silence is still worrisome.

Now that the initial shock has worn off, Mollymauk does not appear to be doing well. Vax has seen several rock and roots that would have tripped the man had he been alive. Instead, his dead form floats straight through without notice.

Unsurprisingly, Mollymauk doesn’t answer him. He stopped talking after they came across the frozen bodies in the road and hasn’t started again despite Vax’s periodic questions.

Vax reaches out and pulls Mollymauk to the side so that he doesn’t step through a sapling struggling to stay alive in the harsh climate up here. It wouldn’t do either of them any harm, but it does feel odd enough that he doesn’t want Mollymauk feeling it unexpectedly.

Mollymauk glances at Vax’s hand on his shoulder. He blinks and looks up to Vax before looking back at where he was stepping. He gives Vax a nod and keeps walking.

It’s the most life Vax has seen out of him in hours.

Ahead of them, the group stops and breaks up to start making camp. Vax stretches. His muscles may not tire like they used to, enabling him to walk the entire day at the horses’ pace, but he finds the cold sets in more easily now. It’s going to be some long uncomfortable days ahead if they keep heading north.

And if his companion keeps to his silence.

He finds a small outcropping that will block the wind and keep them in eyesight of the camp. A fire would call too much attention to him and Mollymauk, so Vax just sits down, flips the hood of his cloak up, and settles in for a long night of watching.

Mollymauk eventually sits down as well, leaving a few good feet between them.

“Why am I not tired?” Mollymauk asks without preamble.

Vax glances over at him.

“I mean,” Mollymauk continues. “I’m fucking freezing and my brain is fuzzy. But I’m not tired.”

Vax pulls out a dagger from his belt and begins fidgeting with it in order to keep his fucking hands to himself. Mollymauk has shrugged off every attempt at physical comfort that Vax has given. He can buy a fucking clue at this point.

“It’s because you’re dead,” Vax answers, keeping a close eye on their surroundings and the camp. The dwarf is sitting up on watch with the rest piled together in the cave for warmth. Vax is almost jealous. “You don’t need rest or sleep the way that you used to. It can be helpful at times.” Like when you get caught in the middle of a battle with demons who can apparently see the dead when you’re just trying to collect your charge. “But it isn’t something that you need regularly anymore.”

“And I’m freezing because…?” Mollymauk reaches up and pulls his coat tighter around himself.

“Because you’re dead,” Vax states.

“Thanks for the details,” Mollymauk scoffs and hunkers down even further into his coat.

Vax slides over a little closer. “I really don’t know more than that. The cold feels worse when you’re dead. And laying in the hot sun feels far more amazing than you could ever imagine. The living are all sweating and complaining of the heat and all you want to do is lay there and not move for days.”

Mollymauk shifts to close a bit more of the distance. “Does the body heat thing even work?”

“Weirdly, it does. A bit.” Vax raises his arm up in invitation, but Mollymauk stays put. He drops his arm and wraps his cloak tighter around himself. “Not as well as it did when we were alive, but it works.”

They fall into silence watching the camp and keeping an eye on their surroundings. The night draws on. The dwarf finishes her watch and wakes up the monk. The monk sits curled at the mouth of the small cave, gaze focused in the distance.

“Fuck,” Vax whispers, seeing a pack of half-starved wolves begin circling the camp. He looks back at the camp and sees the monk staring ahead with glazed eyes, not reacting to the wild animals circling around. Vax takes a minute to see if the monk notices. She continues staring off into space.

He really shouldn’t be interfering here. But he doesn’t have any other names of this group to collect. It’s possible someone else was sent to collect them, but he hasn’t seen any signs. Which means it is likely these wolves won’t kill them, just weaken the group further in a time when they need all of their strength.

“I’ll be right back.” Vax stands and pulls out his daggers. “Stay here.”

“Can I help?” Mollymauk asks, reaching back for his swords.

“No, stay.” Vax turns back briefly. “You’re walking through tree roots. You’re not going to be able to interact enough to drive them off.” Vax hears Mollymauk swearing as he stalks away.

Vax circles around the camp. It’s the work of a few minutes to drive off the small pack of wolves leaving the camp none the wiser. He hopes. He’s mostly sure that he stayed far enough away that they would not have caught his movement.

When Vax returns to Mollymauk, the tiefling is standing, pacing around the area. He’s still stepping through the rocks scattered about instead of on them. Vax ignores him, dropping back to his seat on the ground ignoring the slash in his side from one of the wolves. It’ll heal by morning anyway. 

He absently notes that the goblin has taken over watch and seems just as distracted as the monk had been. He really can’t blame them after everything that they went through the day before, but they’re going to wind up dead if they keep this up.

He keeps his gaze sharp on the area surrounding the camp.

Mollymauk eventually stops pacing and sits back down next to him. “Can you teach me?” he asks.

“Teach you what?” Vax responds, absentmindedly fidgeting with a coin while he watches.

“How to interact?” Mollymauk pulls his legs up close to his core, wrapping his arms and coat around them as much as possible. “I gather it is a learned skill, since I can’t seem to touch anything.”

“Why do you want to know?”

Mollymauk sighs. “I want to deliver my things personally.”

Vax glances over at him sharply. “It takes time to keep control.”

“We seem to have a lot of time,” Mollymauk counters.

Vax groans quietly. “Focus on your feet tomorrow. Try not stepping through things.”

“Okay…” Mollymauk draws the word out.

“How far off are the rest of your friends?” Vax asks.

“A couple days. I think.” Mollymauk shrugs. “Keg’s the one that knows.”

“The dwarf?” Vax asks.

“Yeah.”

“Who are the rest of them?” Vax asks trying to keep Mollymauk talking.

Mollymauk gives him a suspicious look. “Why do you want to know? You have more people to collect?”

“No,” Vax replies wearily. “I really just want names to go with the faces.” He knows the names of these three at least. He was watching them for days. But Mollymauk doesn’t need to know that. He just wants him to not sink back into the depressive silence.

Mollymauk sighs. “Keg’s the dwarf. She caught up with us after everyone got taken. She apparently knows these assholes from working for them before. Nott’s the goblin. She likes shiny things.”

“Hence the bracelet?” Vax asks, thinking of the gold and silver shimmering metal that he pulled off the body.

“Yeah,” Mollymauk replies. He falls silent for long moments and Vax is almost afraid that he is not going to keep going.

“Beau’s the badass monk,” Mollymauk continues eventually. “She actually hates the tarot cards. Or at least, I thought she did.” Mollymauk sniffs, and Vax gets the feeling that he is crying again. “Caleb’s the wizard,” he adds quietly before falling into silence.

Vax leans towards Mollymauk and closes the few inches between them, pressing his shoulder into the tiefling. “And who are the missing?” Vax asks into the lingering silence as the sun begins to just crest the horizon.

Mollymauk shakes his head, standing up as the camp begins to break up without answer.

Vax sighs and follows suit. “Remember, focus on your feet,” Vax mutters as they start walking.

Past the Quannah Breach, Mollymauk finally breaks the silence. “Can we make a deal?”

“Another one?” Vax asks suspiciously.

Mollymauk trips as a rock catches his form. Vax reaches out and steadies him.

“If I tell you about the rest of my friends, will you tell me if their names come up?” Mollymauk asks. “I don’t want to be surprised. And they are not exactly safe at the moment.”

“Sure,” Vax replies. “But there’s no guarantee that I would get their names. I’m not the only one.”

“So I just lucked out getting you?” Mollymauk glances over with a grin.

“Sure, we’ll go with that.” Vax sighs. “I can keep an eye and an ear out though.”

The party in front of them stops and Vax continues forward to see the gate coming up. Mollymauk comes up as well to study the guard.

“Anything we can do to distract them?” Mollymauk asks.

Vax shakes his head. “I don’t think it’s necessary. They don’t look very sharp.”

Three horses round the curve with two riders. Vax can just make out the hiding places of Keg and Beau, but he doubts the guards will be able to see them. Mollymauk’s gaze slides right over them, despite looking for the hidden people.

Beyond the gates and into the city, Vax and Mollymauk both remain silent as they take it in. The city is disturbing to say the least. Vax wants to get out of here as fast as possible. He needs to find out what he can do get this whole mission complete.

In the hallway of rooms that Mighty Nein are occupying in the Landlocked Lady, Vax drops to the floor in one of the corners. Mollymauk sits down next to him, pressed shoulder to shoulder in the small space.

“How are you feeling?” Vax asks.

Mollymauk shrugs. “Weird still.”

“I wish I could say it gets better, but really you just get used to it,” Vax replies.

“That’s not exactly reassuring.” Mollymauk snorts as he sees an elven woman enter the monk’s room. “Go Beau,” he adds quietly.

“Sorry.” Vax shrugs and stands. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to check outside. I don’t trust this place.”

“Neither do I,” Mollymauk mutters as Vax leaves. Vax turns back and sees him fiddling with one of the rings on his hand before turning back around and walking away.

Vax takes a thorough look around outside, not seeing anything immediately worrisome. He comes back inside and drops down at the end of the hall next to Mollymauk.

“We okay?” Mollymauk asks.

“For now, I guess.” Vax leans heavily against the wall. “So who are the rest of your friends?”

“Can I see the bracelet?” Mollymauk asks, gesturing to the moon and star bracelet still hanging around his form’s wrist. “I figure I should practice with what I want to interact with, right?”

“Sure,” Vax grabs the bracelet and drops it onto the ground in front of Mollymauk before deliberately looking away.

“The three missing are Fjord, a half-orc, Jester, a blue tiefling, and Yasha, my best friend.” Vax can hear some frustration in his voice. “They got taken right outside of Hupperdook.”

“And you were tracking them?” Vax asks.

“We know who has them. They were just too strong.” Mollymauk sighs. “Is there any way to make this easier?”

Vax looks over and sees the bracelet still sitting in the spot he dropped it in. “Not really. It just takes time. Lots and lots of time.”

“Great.”

Silence falls over the pair and Vax feels no need to break it, keeping his eyes sharp for danger. Mollymauk seems to be doing a little bit better this night than the last. It’s the most he can hope for right now.


End file.
